Nokia Lumia 920T, unlike the iPhone, to be deeply subsidized in China

Nokia Lumia 920T, unlike the iPhone, to be deeply subsidized in China

December 24, 2012 | By Surur

The Nokia Lumia 920T is currently on pre-order on China Mobile, the largest carrier in the world, for 4599 Yuan, or around $738.

For a country with an average yearly income of only a few hundred dollars this is of course pretty pricy, but a poster on Seeking Alpha believes the handset is set to soon have a huge boost.

Daily Finance reported the handset it set to be heavily subsidized in China, something which is pretty unusual on the carrier.

They write:

Which brings us to the latest news coming out of China. China Mobile is taking pre-orders of the Lumia 920T at the $740 price point until it receives stock from Nokia in January of 2013. However, China Mobile announced that it intends to subsidize the cost of the 920T for customers that sign up for a two-year data plan. What will the Lumia cost customers, after subsidies, in China? All of 1 Yuan.

Jacob Steinberg on Seeking Alpha reports that China Mobile has a limited budget of around $4.1 billion to subsidize phones, and that this means most handsets are not subsidized.  This apparently includes the iPhone, with China Mobile not being able to reach agreement with Apple over their demands for a deep subsidy.

Nokia did however make the list, and from next year the issue of a large upfront payment will be removed out of the equation, which should boost Lumia sales pretty aggressively, if Nokia can keep up with supply of course.

Read more at Seeking Alpha here.